Floor protection for railway cars



K. F. NYSTROM FLOOR PROTECTON FOR RAILWAY-CARS Filed Dec. 4, 1941 March 9, 1943.

Patented Mar. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOOR PROTECTION FOR RAILWAY CARS Karl F. Nystrom, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application December 4, 1941, Serial No. 421,546 3 claims. (ci. ius-422) The invention relates to railway freight cars and has for its object to provide means for protecting the wooden floors now in general use in such equipment, which means will not interfere with the securing of blocking to the wooden flooring.

Another object is to protect the wooden ooring with a metallic sheathing which is perforated so that the car lading may be secured to the flooring through the apertures.

The floors of railway cars are subjected to a great deal of abuse by nails and spikes being driven into them when attaching blocking to them, and also by trucking the lading into the car and by dragging pieces of lading from one part of the car to another. That portion of the car between the opposite side Wall doorways is given the most abuse by lading being hauled through the car (by truck or otherwise) to an adjacent car. However, my improved floor protection may be applied over the entire area vof the floor if desired.

Another object of the invention is to prevent the curling of the edges of the floor protecting plates. Heavy loads are often hauled into railway cars upon trucks having wheels of small diameter and the pressure of such wheels upon the floor of the car presses the central portions of the protecting plate into the wood oor and causes the edges of the plate to curl upwardly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a floor of which one section is installed as a unit and also removed as a unit when it is necessary to repair it.

Another object is to provide a iioor, a part of which is covered Aby metal protecting plates and another part of which is left uncovered and to design such iioor so that the boards comprising the uncovered part may be easily removed and replaced Without disturbing, in any way, the protecting plates.

Another object is to provide a floor which is easily assembled. Certain types of floor protecting plates now in service are diilicult to apply to the car because it is necessary to make a preliminary application of the plates, then remove such plates, and cut grooves in the iioor boards to accommodate the depending anges of the plates, the location of such grooves being gauged by the position of the plates in the preliminary application. In a floor constructed according to my present invention, the unitary doorway section may first be permanently installed and then the remaining part of the oor, which is comprised of standard tongue and groove boards, may be'.

sprung into place in the conventional manner.` j Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following detailed description by referring to thel accompanying draw- Figs. 2 and 3 are sections on lines 2-2 andy 3-3, respectively, of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view similar to a portion of Fig. 3 showing the construction at an edge of a floor protecting plate.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view showing abutting edges of adjacent oor protecting plates.

Figs. 1 to 3 show a common iioor construction of a railway car comprising the center sill 2; side sills 3; intermediate floor stringers 5; and cross members 6 of the underframe. Members which serve as both threshold plates 8 and floor supports 9 are carried by the side sills 3 at the doorways, the doorways being included between the spaced apart door posts Il shown in Fig. 1. 'The side sheathing I2 and side lining I@ are supported by the door posts I i and the side posts I5. The Wooden iioor I1 is supported by the floor supports 9, the intermediate floor stringers 5 and the center sill 2.

As shown in Fig. 1, the floor protector covers the entire floor included betweenthe doorways, and preferably extends beyond the door posts Il a small distance, such as one foot. The oor protector is preferably comprised of a plurality of metallic plates 20 each extending from side to side of the car and arranged with their adjacent edges formed with abutting depending anges 2| embedded in transversely extending grooves 23 cut in the upper surface of the wooden door l1. (See Fig. 5.) The plates 20 may be welded (24) together flush with the iioor, either intermittently or continuously, or, as has been found preferable to reduce buckling, may be welded (26) at the free ends of the depending flanges 2| before the plates and iioor boards are placed together.

'I'he floor plates .20 are securely fastened to the to the threshold plates 8 to reinforce the car and help to hold it square. The oor plates 20 are preferably provided with a plurality of closely spaced apertures 3| so that lading or bracing may be nailed or otherwise secured to the wooden floor I1.

The floor protecting plates 20 which form the marginal parts of the above mentioned unit floor section have formed on their outer edges depending flanges 33 and outstanding reflanges 34. The adjacent uncovered boards 36 are provided with specially formed grooves 31 adapted to receive the reilanges 34. These function both to hold the the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

l. In a railway car; a floor stringer forming part of the underframe of the car, a iloor supported by said stringer and comprising a plurality of wooden boards crossing said Stringer, a perforated metallic oor protecting plate having one margin thereof formed with a depending flange extending between two of said boards, said flange formed with an outwardly projecting reflange projecting into a groove in the edge of one of the last mentioned boards, and bolts positioned adjacent said flange which pass through some of said perforations, said floor and said stringer to hold down both of said last mentioned boards.

2. In a railway car; a floor comprising a plurality of wooden boards, a perforated metallic floor protecting plate having one margin thereof formed with a depending flange extending between two of said boards, said flange formed with an outwardly projecting reflange projecting into a groove in the edge of one of the last mentioned boards, and bolts positioned adjacent said flange which pass through some of said perforations and said floor to hold `down both of said last mentioned boards. l

3. In a railway car having a oor stringer forming part of the car underframe and a floor structure, said floor including a unit section comprising a plurality of Wooden boards crossing said stringer, a perforated metallic floor protecting plate having the opposite margins thereof parallel to said boards formed with depending flanges each formed with an outwardly projecting reflange, and bolts passing through some of said perforations and said boards, said floor also including other wooden boards adjacent said opposite margins of the unit section and provided with grooves receiving said outwardly projecting reflanges, said floor structure including other bolts passing through some of said perforations, said boards and said Stringer.

K. F. NYSTROM. 

